Ion implantation is a standard technique for introducing conductivity-altering impurities into substrates. A desired impurity material is ionized in an ion source, the ions are accelerated to form an ion beam of prescribed energy, and the ion beam is directed at the surface of the substrate. The energetic ions in the beam penetrate into the bulk of the substrate material and are embedded into the crystalline lattice of the substrate material to form a region of desired conductivity.
Solar cells provide pollution-free, equal-access energy using a free natural resource. Due to environmental concerns and rising energy costs, solar cells, which may be composed of silicon substrates, are becoming more globally important. Any reduced cost to the manufacture or production of high-performance solar cells or any efficiency improvement to high-performance solar cells would have a positive impact on the implementation of solar cells worldwide. This will enable the wider availability of this clean energy technology.
Doping may improve efficiency of solar cells. This doping may be performed using ion implantation. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a selective emitter solar cell. It may increase efficiency (the percentage of power converted and collected when connected to an electrical circuit) of a solar cell to dope the emitter 200 and provide additional dopant to the regions 201 under the contacts 202. More heavily doping the regions 201 improves conductivity and having less doping between the contacts 202 improves charge collection. The contacts 202 may only be spaced approximately 2-3 mm apart. The regions 201 may only be approximately 100-300 μm across. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of an interdigitated back contact (IBC) solar cell. In the IBC solar cell, the junction is on the back of the solar cell. The doping pattern is alternating p-type and n-type dopant regions in this particular embodiment. The p+ emitter 203 and the n+ back surface field 204 may be doped. This doping may enable the junction in the IBC solar cell to function or have increased efficiency.
To implant solar cells according to known techniques, solar cells are typically unloaded from a cassette and transferred to the implanter, and thereafter transferred from the implanter to holders for further processing. Known methods are either too slow, expensive, or unreliable. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for an improved method of transport for workpieces and, more particularly, an improved method and apparatus to transport solar cells.